This study aims to introduce the concept of equipping church to church leaders in Korea for more effective lay leadership development and lay ministry. The traditional churches, which are hierarchical, institutionalized, and clergy-driven, generally do not have a well-organized sequential process for equipping the laity. As a result, in these traditional churches, lay people remain as bystanders, subordinates, and receivers of ministry, rather than becoming creative partakers in ministry. In contrast, some churches are focusing on lay development through well-organized sequential phases and are deploying equipped lay people in various ministries according to their spiritual gifts. These churches are called “equipping churches.” Based on this understanding, in section II, the author defines the equipping church as a church that focuses on educating lay people for ministry and leadership in order for effective shared ministry to occur. In section III, the author discusses theological basis for the equipping church, which includes ecological ecclesiology, the priesthood of all believers, and holistic ministries according to spiritual gifts. These theological understandings are all based on the biblical teaching of the church as the body of Christ, in which all people of God are interrelated and work together according to their spiritual gifts for the kingdom of God. In section IV, the author presents five essential qualities that shape the equipping church: (1) Equipping pastor, (2) Equipping process, (3) Equipped lay leaders, (4) Shared ministry, and (5) Laos-driven structure. The author names these essential qualities ‘Five Pillars of the Equipping Church.’ In this church, the main role of the pastor is to equip lay people to be mature Christian ministers. Through well-organized equipping processes, equipped lay leaders occur and lead various kinds of ministers according to their spiritual gifts. Therefore, the equipping church has laos-driven structure in which the clergy and the laity build horizontal and circular network relationship, keeping same ontological status. Today many Korean church leaders are struggling with instantly-made lay leaders who have not passed through an appropriate equipping process and entered into the inner-circle of the Church to practice leadership. Leadership-making is a process, not a day event. Through a well-planned sequential process, effective lay ministry partners are produced. Without a well-organized lay-equipping process, the Church cannot have entrepreneurial Christian lay leaders. Therefore, Korean church leaders should focus on developing well-organized and sequential equipping processes for the naïve/beginning Christians to be effective lay ministry partners. The older mechanistic, linear, and hierarchical structure of the church needs to be replaced by ecological, circular, and horizontal organism, which is biblically faithful. This can be possible through the equipping church which is a model of church renewal.

• 황병배(감신대 강사ㆍ선교신학) | Hwang Byungbae